His Slight Dilemma
by Falsetta-Arias
Summary: Unable to foresee his own brother's wedding, Asbel is forced to contend with his own obliviousness in a self-reflective contest in which it pretty much ends in his own tragic defeat. That's a million and one points for his obliviousness and zero for him.


A/N- I fangasmed when I saw a section for Tales of Graces and knew immediately I had to write something for it. Now I shall sit back and wait for more Asbel/Cheria fics to show up! *is a rabid fangirl*

This is just a little muse that I had to write. Asbel is my favorite Tales character. He's strong, mature, charismatic leader but he also has this childish naivety and obliviousness that made him especially adorable. I hope you enjoy the fanfic and…

…don't forget to review! Review is food for authors!

Oh almost forgot, spoilers of Tales of Graces F's ending.

EDIT: Now edited all the grammar mistakes I could catch. I hope this makes it a little easier to read! Thanks everyone for the reviews, I'm very very happy so many people enjoyed it!

EDIT (again): Caught a couple of more mistakes…geez I knew my grammar was bad, maybe I should get a beta-reader. To celebrate the coming of Graces F to America, I think I should write a couple more Graces fanfics. What kinds of stories would you guys like to see? ^_^

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It started with a wedding invitation, which got him thinking that he may be excluded from a whole other world where the main mode of communication was not with any language he knew, but everyone else seemed to have mastered. Pondering about his apparent nonexistence in said world had left him in a bit of a glum for the past few days because he disliked being left out of anything. He may be a Feudal Lord, and he may be well into adulthood, but Asbel Lhant had been sulking like a disappointed child ever since that one envelope came in the mail three days ago.

It was an occasion to celebrate. He had been cordially invited to the wedding ceremony to celebrate the union of Hubert Ozwell and Pascal Amma Lucia. After reading this he nearly fell out of his chair in shock.

In other words, his own little brother was getting married to one of his dearest friend and he had no idea they were even in a relationship.

After sharing the news with the rest of his family, Cheria clapped her hands in glee and piped that it was about time they settled down. Even Sophie, who had not fully outgrown her childlike naivety, was seemingly unfazed as she chimed in her own delight. Asbel had secretly hoped that Sophie would share his surprise at the utmost abrupt (to him at least) news. Seeing that she had disappointed him, Asbel felt like he had been left in the dust as even little Sophie had packed her bags to take her proper residence in the 'other' world, the world he'd been so exclusively excluded from.

Since the days of his childhood, Asbel Lhant had done quite a bit of growing. He grew in height, he grew in smarts, he grew in strength and he grew in maturity. Though never, not even now when all the rest of the growing had slowed down considerably, did he grew out his innocence and naivety. When he was thirteen and at the incipience of puberty, all the other boys' voice dropped and his did too. All the other boys hit their growth spurt and he did too. Then when all the other boys started looking at the opposite sex with a different sparkle in their eyes and skirt chased, he sat in his room, polishing his practice sword and looking forward to the next day's lesson. When he got a little older, all the other boys started utilizing the convenient little hiding space above the ceiling tile perfect for secret stashes of porn and he did too, using the space to hide his secret stash of Galds especially set aside for ice cream every Sunday. Near the end of his schooling years, he still found pleasure brandishing his sword on the practice mannequins in the armory while other boys found new pleasure brandishing their other 'sword' at girls. (He never did understand that joke.)

He was not _completely _innocent, he liked to think. For one thing he knew _clearly _where babies came from. (He learned it from his roommate who learned it from his friend who learned it for his friend who learned it from his brother who learned from a porn magazine. He did have to modify it greatly later on when he, eh-hem, had his own experience.)

As for his natural obliviousness, he didn't think of it as problem until now when Cheria is humming about what to wear to the wedding while he is still flabbergasted that there is going to be one.

For his little brother, who's getting married.

He had no effing idea.

Part of him is whining about being left out yet again. Why didn't his brother just tell him? Okay fine Hubert is not the type to talk about this type of stuff but couldn't he have made an exception for his poor older brother who's woefully inept at the subtle language of this secret world?

Romance is especially tricky and he never seems to be able to grasp it completely. Sure, he's happily married now, but the road to it was a strange one. After his initial journey with Cheria and others to save Richard, he found the red-head in his thoughts a lot. He caught himself wondering if she was well, if she was coming back soon, and if she was thinking about him too. He dismissed them as general normal concerns about a friend (albeit the last one didn't really fit but he didn't think too hard about it). When he saw her again after a half year separation, he found himself _unable_ to look at her in the eyes. Very strange, he thought, very strange indeed. At the end of their second journey together and she walked away again for her job, he was flooded with this unknown emotion which forced him call out her name and asked her to come back to live with him. Only a little bit after when his thoughts returned to him that Asbel realized he just proposed to his childhood friend and that he was in love with her.

Cheria is now tittering about what Sophie should wear while clinkering her knitting needle together, making a sock too small of anyone to wear. She has just recently finished a hat of the same miniature scale. Asbel briefly thought about asking what they were for but remembered a more pressing issue.

"Are you going to feel up for traveling?" Asbel asks his wife, who's currently resting in an armchair in their room. Cheria has been feeling under the weather for several weeks now but insists that the doctor insists that she is physically fine. Nausea in the mornings but usually gets better as the day goes on. Asbel is still concerned but the illness does seem to be improving.

"In a few more weeks I'll be completely fine, just in time for the wedding." Cheria assures confidently, purling a row of stitches.

Just in time for Hubert's wedding, in which he'll be married, _married. _Asbel lets out another frustrated groan in which all the gloom returns, mocking his inability to detect what seems obvious to others. His little brother is getting married; he didn't even know Hubert is interested in girls.

Unable to cap his frustration, he desperately turns to Cheria, "Is there anything else, ANYTHING else that the world is leaving me out of? Just tell me now, in plain words, please."

The initial surprise at his outburst is then replaced by a conflicted look on Cheria's face. After sometime, she sighs and puts down her knitting.

"Dear, maybe you should sit down for this."

Asbel obediently plants his butt on the bed.

"I was planning to save this till all the fuss about the wedding has died down but…." Cheria pauses a bit, "Asbel, I'm pregnant."

Asbel immediately stands up with a look of frozen surprise on his face.

"I thought you might've figured it out…" Cheria starts tentatively, "I wasn't trying to hide it at all."

He had no _effing _idea.

"Oh dear," Cheria waves a concerned hand in front of Asbel's immobile body, "Maybe I should've waited for a better moment…"

Asbel steps over toward Cheria chair, lifts her right out of it, spins her around once, and then kisses her. Sadly, that is a million and one points for his obliviousness and zero for him, but Asbel thinks he should give himself a little more credit.

At least he got the baby making part right.

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Darn it. I wanted to reference Masque de Baronia at least once…..


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